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Chained To My Bully Stepbrother (AI Vertical BL Drama)

By Golu
This is the second vertical AI BL drama I've sat through, and honestly I went in knowing better. I had it on while I was doing cardio at the gym, and what struck me was just how much the plot echoed the last one I watched. Same step brother romance angle, same mystery girlfriend showing up near the end, same extra guy pining after one of the leads. Genuinely the only thing going for it was the runtime, the whole thing wrapped up in forty five minutes flat.  The setup kicks off with Finn moving schools because his mom just married into money. He finds out his new step brother Aiden goes to the same place, and he's warned to keep his distance from him. Their first run in at school is rocky, just like you'd expect, but there's this odd pull between them neither can shake off. Finn keeps telling himself not to read into it because Aiden's straight and openly homophobic. Things shift when some kids start bullying Finn and the student council president, Ryan, steps in to ...
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Almost Normal

By Golu
A standard gay comedy, Almost Normal would be rather forgettable, if it wasn't also a social satire, designed to illustrate what it's like to be gay in a straight world. As satire, it succeeds to an extent, and in some ways as brilliantly as one could hope to expect although in spots, the plot is too confusing to produce the intended impact. 

Brad is a good looking 40 year old single gay man. At his parents 45th wedding anniversary, he meets his best friend from school who stopped talking to him when he came out to him. His mother still dreams of finding a nice girl for him. This is when he remarks to his best friend Julie who also happens to be his sister in law that he sometimes wishes he was "normal". Not that he dislikes being gay, but he is weary of being different from the heterosexuals that surrounded him. Drunk, he leaves the party and gets into an accident and slips into a dream where he is transported back to 70s, his early college days. He gets his wish of being 'normal' because everyone in this world is gay and straights are looked down upon. A myriad of plot problems are resolved with witty or sometimes silly explanations. In his dream, Brad's parents have same-sex partners, but his father and mother begat him through a custom known as "birth partners". And then film takes a turn when Julie enters and suddenly Brad starts feelings for her. He is now turning straight which is again not 'normal' in this dreamy world. Of course, the dream ends and everyone is back to reality. The film ends when he suddenly he meets this guy (father of one of his students) who happens to be the same guy who Brad had a huge crush on when he was in college and we see that in this elaborate dream sequence. 

The climax was the highlight of the film. Acting of the principal characters was also good. The whole role reversal thing was interesting but when they introduced Brad turning straight, it made it confusing for me. Was it about an individual's choice of sexuality or rebel. All was going well because Brad wanted a normal life and he gets that in the dream. Or maybe it was just to show the support of the minority group. In either case it confused me as a viewer. But yes, the film was still not boring. It kept my attention barring a few places here and there. An interesting concept but now who is the target audience for this film? (5/10)
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